Pro Mindset Strategies

The only way to change your beliefs and path in life, is to change your actions. You do this with small repeated actions or habits.

This week I have asked one of my long time clients and current intern Kawika Emsley Pai to share how he used mindset during his professional career as a baseball player.

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"Baseball is such a unique sport that requires a certain level of mental toughness to succeed. It is known as "The Game of Failure" because of how much adversity someone faces on a game-to-game basis. Because of the nature of the sport, it is imperative to have mental toughness to reach your full potential.

What is mental toughness? The most important thing I learned playing 5 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates is how to "control the controlables". People focus a lot of their energy on their frustrations in the game, which are more than

likely out of their control. In order to improve your mental toughness in this game, you must instead focus your energy solely on the things YOU CAN control. I like to use an acronym to help structure this concept:

P.A.C.E.

Preparation

Attitude

Concentration

Effort

Mental toughness to me is being able to control the controllables, on and off the field. If you can go about your day and control the controllables to the best of your ability, then the rest will take care of itself. The pursuit of excellence does not happen easily, but if you can control P.A.C.E to the best of your ability then you will have a better mentality that promotes success.

Try to focus on the process not the end result. When you let the end results define you -- your talent, performance, weight etc. -- you become a victim of a fixed mindset. But, when you dedicate yourself to showing up every day and focusing on habits that make you better, that is what a growth mindset looks like.

Don't worry about the things that are out of your hands. Don't stress about things that you can't control or change. Stay in the now and don't let any opportunities go to waste."

Kawika Emsley-Pai

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We will be going over the concepts of P.A.C.E. in more depth in the following weeks. Please pass it along to anyone who you think could benefit from the message.